Favorite things: Protein Bars (sugar free) *links fixed Sale

Many thanks for all the emails I received alerting me to the broken links. They are all fixed, and should work now! ENJOY!

I encounter many people asking of healthy ways to satisfy your sweet tooth while getting your protein in, and not sacrificing your macros/diet. Since it is Christmas time-- meaning fantastic sales, and therefore time to try and stock up while the deals last-- I decided to list some of my favorite protein bars. These are perfect for a snack/dessert, or make a great gift. I will be doing a top holiday gift guide for the fitness inspired person in your life; from the hard to buy for bodybuilding teen son/nephew, boyfriend, mother, to the yoga enthusiast and outdoor hiker. For now, I 100% recommend giving these bars a try. Non of them contain sugar, and are high in fiber and protein. ENJOY

Protein Bars:

DR.CARBRITE PROTEIN BARS
These bars are low carb--NO added sugar, low fat, contain 20g of protein and come in a variety of flavors:

Blueberry Cheesecake

Cookie Dough

Choc. Mint Cookie

Choc. Peanut Butter

Raspberry Choc. Truffle

Toasted Coconut

Cinnamon Bun

Chocolate Brownie

Chocolate Mint

Chocolate Peanut Butter

S'mores

Chocolate Covered Banana Nut

Raspberry Chocolate Truffle

Size: 56grams
Calorie counts vary between 190 kcal-200kcal, and the fat from 3.5-7 depending on the flavor. My personal favorites are Banana Nut, S'mores, Chocolate Brownie, Cinnamon Bun, Raspberry, Blueberry, Cookie Dough, and Choc Mint. They are chewy and fantastic. The only downside is that they are not very filling.

NUGO SMARTE CARB BARS

I absolutely love these bars. The texture/crunch is fantastic, and the 2 flavors they have are wonderful. They so far only have a Chocolate Black Cherry, and a Peanut Butter.   These bars, although low in calories and fat (160-170 kcals a bar, and only 4-5g fat), are actually satisfying and have a great "chew" to them.

OPTIMUM NUTRITION DIET PROTEIN BARS
The stats on these bars are also impressive, although they are much more of a snack bar, and are small. They come in 4 flavors, and are also sugar free!
They come in:
Fudge Truffle
Chocolate Mint
Toasted Coconut
Peanut Butter

CHOCOLITE BITES AND BARS

Although these don't count as "protein bars" per se, I do love anything CHOCOLITE! I love the bars, the bites, the taste, and the stats! Ranging from 30-40 kcal a "bite" (60-80kcal for the entire 2 bite package), and 95-150 kcal for the bars, these high fiber, sugar free, DELICIOUS chocolate treats and incredible, and highly recommended!

My personal favorites for the BITES are Peanut Butter Patty, which is a whipped airy-Reese type dessert, the Cookies and Cream bites, the  Chocolate Coconut, and the Chocolate Almond Coconut-- although I LOVE them all; the Almond nougat chew is fantastic as well! They additionally come in a Chocolate Crispy Caramel, Peanut Caramel Nougat, Pecan Caramel Chew, Caramel Chocolate Nougat etc

My favorite bars are definitely the S'MORES bar (100 calories, 4 grams of fiber!)--note that amazon.com has the wrong picture for the product and I included the correct picture below--these bars are fantastic; the cookies and cream bar (95 calories, 9g of fiber!), and the triple fudge chocolate bar (95 cal, 10g of fiber!). They have Turtle, Peanut Butter, and Cashew caramel as well.

A few of my Favorite Things: Xmas ideas and 5 of my Favorites

I have had a few very nice emails of readers asking me to tell them more about myself and make my site more personal. As many of you know, I started this off as a personal blog, but due to one rather derogatory comment, I stopped blogging about my life and daily happenings, and instead stuck to reviews, recipes, articles, editorials etc. I realized that one comment should affect me at all. For now, I will start a series of "A Few of My Favorite Things", which will be items (food, household, gadgets etc) that I absolutely love and cannot live with out. I figured that with Black Friday and Christmas around the corner, now would be the perfect time to recommend some items that I use regularly, stand behind and love! I, personally, appreciate when I have 'real people' feed-back, as opposed to advertising. I hope this helps and gives you guys some great ideas!

1. My Salter Mini Electronic Scale!
It is small and fits into my purse/gym bag. It is so convenient for when I am measuring out protein powder, Fibersmart, oatmeal etc. Great to take to restaurants, on vacation, to class etc. It is portable, discreet and weighs in 0.05g increments!! This is my 'baby' and I am attached to this more than I'd like to admit!

2. My Salter Nutritional Scale:

I use this daily in my kitchen, whenever I am baking/cooking. It's fun to see how off certain food counts are (packaged food serving sizes) and it is invaluable for baking, cooking or just weighing food portions. It calculates the calories as well. It weighs up to 3kg, and has tons of pre programmed foods in it. You can also program your own foods.
This is invaluable for people with Diabetes, Hypertension (tracks sodium as well!), pre-contest fitness athletes and athletes in general. This is the old-school model. They have the update which is sleeker and you can get it HERE>. It has about 1450 pre-stored Nutritional Values for foods, and you can enter about 100 of your own foods (protein powder, kabocha etc) 10yr warranty, comes with batteries, and even tracks GI loads!

3.  I ADORE and highly recommend THE NINJA Master Prep Pro. It works just like the infomercial says it does (for once they didn't exaggerate) and really chops ice into snow! High quality, fast, effective- the perfect gift for ANYONE. College student, kid, teen, family, parent's, friends etc. It has 6 blades (3 on the top and 3 on the bottom base) so it doesn't leave anything un-blended, chopped, mixed etc. It doubles as a powerful food processor, chopper and ice crusher (that really delivers results)! This truly has been one of my best purchases and I highly recommend it! It makes everything- from chicken to salad! The Master Prep Pro has 2x the speed of the original, is more powerful, chops evenly and doesn't turn your salsa into mush! The BEST GIFT!

For those of you who want a simpler easy blender only, they also have THE NINJA original (which is FANTASTIC) and blends/mixes/crushes everything!

4. Magic Bullet! or if you really want a more powerful version, try the Magic Bullet Platinum Pro!
The Platinum Pro has 100 extra Watts and they really make a difference! Food doesn't get stuck, and it works way better than the original! I realize this seems along the same vein as #3, but options are good! The cups are blender itself are MUCH sturdier than the original, and crushes ice into snow really well (unlike the old, original Magic Bullet). They also make the Bullet Express Food Processor/juicer, which makes chopping apples, tomatoes, cucumbers etc a breeze! It's a bigger machine, because it is a food processor primarily. Personally, I'd stick to the Platinum Pro.

5. VITAMIX!!! Love this!!!! This my friends, is the Bentley, Maserati, Lamborghini, Ferrari, Ashton Martin and Rolls Royce of Blender/Mixers. It does everything- makes ice cream, heats and makes soup (through friction, not heat which destroys enzymes), grinds flours (oat flour, wheat, coconut, garbanzo etc), makes Soy and Almond Milk, makes Nut Butters (peanut, almond, walnut, pecan, tahini etc- saves you so much money), smoothies, batters etc. It will pulverize anything! This is the ULTIMATE GIFT! They come in different models, and different versions (professional CIA, 4500 , red, black, platinum etc).

I own the Platinum one. It really is one of those things that is 'too good to be true' but actually is even better than advertised. This supersedes all expectations! Perfect for anyone on any diet! Great for Raw Vegans, because it doesn't use heat in the conventional sense. All the enzymes are left intact, along with all the nutrients. You do not core/peel/chop anything. Just dump the fruit (ex apple) into it whole. Saves so much time! Great for baby food etc.
GET THIS! IT IS LIFE CHANGING!

I realize these have all been Kitchen Gadgets and appliances thus far.
Next post I will delve into different categories, price points, and various other items!

What about you guys? What are some gadgets you LOVE and cannot live without, or have come to depend on?